MUSICAL E- VE-NT S Enjoying the Sound I SELDOM VISIt Carnegie Hall Joplin's "Pineapple Rag," arranged without a thought of thankfulness by Mr. Perlman, and, as encortS, that it IS still there. , rithout it, Kreisler's "Schön Rosmann," another New York would be for musicians a Joplin rag, and Antonio Bazzini's sad and sonically drabber place. Yet "Ronde des Lutins." Curious hodge- sorne fifteen years ago it was in danger podge of a progralll. But the evening of being destroyed. The Philadelphia was enjoyable because Mr. Perlman Or c h est r a's Carnegie concert, last plays the violin so well. His tone is week, was a feast of fi 1 st-rate orches- unfailingly beautiful-not, on the one tral sound. It began with Krzysztof hand, schmalzy and syrupy or, on the Pendereckl's "I)e Natura Sonoris" No. other, gritted and forceful. J{ound 1. This is modern music without tears, but not fat, sweet but not cloying, madL of sounds high and low-often smooth but not slippery, thewy but not the highest and lowest notes of which wIry, glittering (when glitter is need- the instruments are capable-of SI- ed) but not flashy-in short, every- lences, and of clusters and flurries that thing one wants violin sound to be. coalesce Into blocks of quivering so- The musical personality is harder to nority. Short, shapely, skIllfully assem- appraise. There is warlllth, and ex- bled, It made a good startIng piece. uberance. Mr. Perlman was particu- Brahms's Fourth Syrnphony followed, larly captivating in the Vieuxtemps- laid out clearly, hroadly, and lyrically a violinist's counterpart to a soprano's by Eugene Ormandy, and superlative- "..A.h, vous dirai-je, lllaman" variations ly well played. The Philadelphia Or- by .It\.dolphe .It\.darn. With the delicacy chestra produced a warml) hOllloge- of a great singer, he delivered the neous sound, of peerless blend and bal- theme, not tongue-in-cheek, not mock- ance Its woodwind choir, in the ingly, but with such daintily artIstic in- Andante, seemed to breathe a benison flections that the result was at once on the audience. Nothing was forced bewitching and witty. He played the or labored. It was not a passionate per- long fugue of the Bach sonata with formance, not tragic, but serene, lll l- excellent intentness. '[he Dvorák was jestic, Olyrnpian. In the second half, (:lgreeably lYrIcal But the I ves did not the Mussorgsky-Ravel "Pictures dt dn hang together-it sounded only half Exhibition." This is generally deemed an orchestral showpiece, but there was no sense of show- ing off on this occasion. Fvery- thing fell effortlessly into place. The colors were vivid, the phras- ing was subtle, the virtuosity un- self-conscious T HE next day, Itzh lk Perl- man and Samuel S tnders.. violin and piano, gave a recital in the same hall. The most substan- tial piece in the program was one for violin solo, Bdch's Third So- nata, in C. Before it, there was S . k ' " S O [ 1 . " travlns y s lute ta Ienne, an arrangernent of rnusic from the ballet "Pulcinella" \vhich violin- ists en joy playing. 'The second half brought forward three works em p loyi n g ..L--\merican themes: l)vorak's Sonatina, ()p. 100, the Larghetto of which Kreisler ar- d " I d . L " ran ge as n I a n a 111 e n t ; Charles I ves's Second Sondtd, which includes hymn tunes (;l!Hl barn dances; and Henri Vieux- , " s . d ', \ ,. " telllps souvenIr I'\,menque, L1 set of variations on "Yankee l)oodle" There was also Scott " :: (9' 4 \ , \ . 'L - ,," þ \'7 \ , \ \ <vvwJ ;; ,,- ..rtä:! / -- 55 the work it can be (in, say, the mas- terly performance that Paul Zukofsky 'lnd Gilbert Kalish have recorded fOJ Nonesuch). It was as if Mr. Perlrnan had explored (;lnd mastered the sounds but not discovered their meaning. Mr. Sanders was a sure, tffÌcJent, and bold pianist but he seemed content to re- main an accompanist; the sonata W'lS presented as a work fOJ violin with piano, not a dialogue between equals. I sat near the back. .It\.t the back of Carnegie Hall one is still close to the mUSIC. T HERE is a large repertor) of sacred rnusic worth hearing and seldom heard, and the Sacred MUSIC Society of .It\.rnerica, which gave its in- augural performance, in .It\. very Fisher Hall, the day after Epiphany, rnay have a valuable part to play in New York's musical life. To be sure, the work chosen for its first concert, Massenet's d ' " M . M d 1 . " ramr sacrp .J. arle- ag e elne, proved to be barely worth revival in its own right, and scarcely sacred music in any respectable sense. But the per- formance, with Reg1l1e Crespin in the tItle role, 7JJaS worth hearing, dnd the piece is one about which Massenet en- thusiasts-a growing band, soon to be cheered by "Le Cid" In Carnegie Hall, "Esclarrnonde" at the \iet next season, 'lnd, one hears, "Thaïs" the SC(;lson after that-have long heen CUll- - '- '\ 1\ -, 0 \' - , S: ... .. . f í} , . /) , Jf/' ,( "'- { ffþ ( : f (f -' \ V "I / )/ , UGh) you)ll adore them T hey)re from France and they have lots of- you know money.))